Thursday, December 22, 2016

“‘Twas the week before Christmas when all through the town,Men, women and children were running around,Giving left signals and then turning right,Shopping and spending much money all night.

Elbowing in at the counter of toys,Buying up gifts for their girls and their boys.The meaning of Christmas is clear in our city:Mail carriers and clerks never get any pity.

Father is groaning; his checkbook turns red,While visions of bankruptcy churn in his head.Mother is baking cake after pie, saying“If I see one more pastry, I think I will die.”

Only for children it can’t come too soon.They’ll talk about next year on Christmas at noon.With all of the holes in our nerves and our shoes,The meaning of Christmas we almost will lose.

But then comes the strains of that music so lightAnd soon we are humming the tune ‘Silent Night’.Our minds take us back twenty centuries past,And the meaning of Christmas comes through to us at last.

No hurry, no bustle, no trees with their lights,No honking, no hustle, no toys gleaming bright.But Jesus our Savior, in Bethlehem born,Becomes the true meaning of our Christmas morn.” [--Author Unknown, cited from an old Fayetteville (GA) First United Methodist Church newsletter]

How do you and your family experience Christmas? I pray that at at least some level, you will make the difficult but rewarding choice to remove yourself from the rat race long enough both to remember and actually experience the true meaning of the season.

As part of that choice, I hope you'll join myself and your fellow church family to celebrate Jesus, "the reason for the season." at one of our Christmas Eve Candlelighting services (5:00pm Family Service with Children's Pageant or 11:00pm Traditional Service with Holy Communion) and/or on Christmas Day for our 10:30am casual Christmas celebration. Always remember that God loves you and I do, too!

Thursday, December 1, 2016

“A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness
prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.’” (Isaiah 40:3)

The
Christian season of Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas Day) is
often called a season of preparation.
Not only are we preparing for the holiday of Christmas physically (with decorations, Christmas
cards, shopping, parties, etc.) but also spiritually
(by looking within ourselves for how God wants us to grow in our love towards
Him and others).

With
that in mind, a number of years ago I read an article detailing several “travel
tips” that can help us spiritually “prepare” for our “journey” through Advent:

1)
PACK LIGHTLY: One of the
indicators that our annual Christmas buying neurosis has gone wrong is this
idea that those who give the most, and get the most, matter the most. Such mistaken reasoning leads us to teach our
children that Christmas is the annual bash we put on for ourselves, all the
while trying to believe Bethlehem’s boy child is the “reason for the
season.” …But this myth can’t be
disguised forever. This year, why not
pack lightly? Rather than “shopping til you
drop,” drop to your knees and ask the One Who Comes what he would have you do
to make ready HIS coming.

2)
WALK SLOWLY: Am I the only
person who notices how rushed we get the closer “it” gets? Was it only a few weeks ago that we started
seeing signs saying “only 44 more days”?
Slow down. Take time to sip cider
with your mate. Hug your kids. Tell them the Advent-Christmas story and then
live the story before them. Refuse to
sing Silent Night from a noisy
heart. Simply put, make the powerful
emotions of these days your servants,
not your master.

3)
LISTEN CAREFULLY: Someone you love very much is talking, saying
something really important, maybe even life-changing. Listen carefully and, who knows, you may hear
the night wind speak to the little lamb saying “a child is born.” I can’t prove
it, much less illustrate it, but I’m almost certain that most of us on the
journey miss half the joy because we’re too busy talking; the sound of our own importance
has drowned out the promise of “I am
coming soon.”

4)
LOOK WISTFULLY: Where, you ask, should I look? My best advice is: none of the obvious places. Those who traffic in seasonal things know
what easy prey most of us are. “Get them in the stores, turn on the music
and lights, plop the man dressed in red in the middle of it all and, bingo,
it’s Christmas.” But the truth is
that only those who look wistfully beyond what IS to the One who COMES really
experience the mystery and miracle of Advent.
Why? Because Advent is a journey we take into the reality of the journey
God made in Christ. That journey, which
included stops at such places as a stable, a hillside, a cross, and an empty
tomb, had one purpose: to love the likes
of you and me back to the God who created us.

So,
journey on, fully aware that at destination’s end is the one who loves you and
gave himself for you. “Even so, come Lord Jesus!”

[--Shared
by Dr. Timothy Owings in an editorial in The Augusta

Chronicle
newspaper (August, GA), December 1997]

As we continue to prepare for
Christmas this Advent season, I invite you to allow these “tips” to become a
reality in your life, as I seek to have them do in my own! Remember, God loves
you and I do, too!

About Me

Brian is an ordained Elder of the North Georgia United Methodist Church, has been pastoring churches since 1989, and currently serves as Senior Pastor of LaGrange First United Methodist church in LaGrange, GA.